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POLITICO 44

It was one part luck, one part groveling and one part attention-deficit disorder that combined to save Joe Barton from his political near-death experience.

Last week, the Texas Republican’s future hung by a thread from colleagues outraged by the bad publicity he had brought to the House GOP Conference and Republicans generally with his statements that BP was being subject to an unfair “shakedown” by President Barack Obama.

But Barton will now keep his post as the top Republican on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Among the reasons: The lawmaker’s rhetorical blunder was surpassed by an even more attention-getting one by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, an especially well-timed turn of the news cycle from Barton’s vantage point.

He also got a lucky bounce from the congressional calendar, which had the House off and out of town for four days. By the time lawmakers returned to town, passions had cooled sufficiently that some colleagues were assuaged by what one called Barton’s “humble” apology in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday. Some lawmakers made clear privately that Barton’s sentiments about Obama’s handling of the oil spill — while they shouldn’t have been voiced publicly — were not in fact all that different than their own. While they wouldn’t have apologized, they certainly had concern about the White House’s handling of the situation.

The cumulative result was that colleagues who rushed to condemn Barton last Friday had a simple reaction on Wednesday: We’re moving on.

Rep. John Carter, a fellow Texas Republican and a member of the steering committee that would have decided Barton’s fate, said his closed-door apology was “gentlemanly.”

“What a man ought to do is step up and say, ‘Hey, I shouldn’t have made that apology to BP; they’re snakes, and I shouldn’t have done that,’” Carter said. “I think that played well.”

Time also proved to be a major factor on Barton’s side. The House has about 30 more days in session before Congress takes a summer breather, and GOP insiders calculated that Barton is unlikely to inflict much more damage on his party. Because of party term limits, Barton would be neither chairman nor ranking member in the next Congress, so he’s largely done as the most influential Republican on the panel.

Another factor on the calendar — the Energy and Commerce Committee doesn’t have much legislating left, and it’s most likely done with high-profile hearings for now. The panel’s chairman, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), said he expects to find some agreement with Barton on a toy safety bill and asbestos legislation, but that’s about it.

The linchpin of Barton’s salvation, according to Republican insiders, was the Gulf states’ lawmakers. Aside from Reps. Jo Bonner of Alabama and Jeff Miller of Florida, no Republican member of Congress publicly called for Barton to relinquish his post. Several lawmakers privately told POLITICO that they would support his ouster if House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had pushed for it, but that never gained any real momentum.

Barton did work the phones a bit, making a flurry of calls to Energy and Commerce Republicans such as Reps. Michael Burgess of Texas and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, and Gulf Coast GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Bill Cassidy, also of Louisiana, to make the case that he should stay.

“He called me and apologized,” Cassidy said of the conversation. “He was very sorry; he didn’t mean to be insensitive, and he realizes this is a very emotional thing for the people back home.”

Scalise, who is seen by Republicans as a barometer of sorts on the disaster, has indicated that he thought the remarks were unfortunate and made sure to say he disagreed, but said the larger concern to him and his constituents is stopping the oil and moving to clean up the Gulf.

So Barton escaped punishment for telling the truth about the narcissist-in-chief. Too bad McChrystal couldn't do the same.

But to the thin-skinned Obama and his enablers in Congress, anyone who tells the truth about his incompetence, his dishonesty, his war on the productive sector of America, or his plot to replace freedom and democracy in this country with a federally controlled socialism, must be punished and removed from the public eye.

Nice distraction, but the problem is that the President continues to actively hinder the Gulf clean-up. Barton isn't hindering the clean-up. Barton didn't block the foreign assistance. Barton didn't stop the building of protective berms. Barton didn't prevent oil skimmers from skimming. Barton didn't promise Brazil two billion taxpayer dollars for risky offshore drilling at more than 14,000 feet. Barton didn't ignore the court ordered release of the Huttare, due to no credible evidence. Barton isn't trying to spend my grandchildren into poverty and slavery. Barton or Alfred E. Newman would be a more honest president.

Nice distraction, but the problem is that the President continues to actively hinder the Gulf clean-up. Barton isn't hindering the clean-up. Barton didn't block the foreign assistance. Barton didn't stop the building of protective berms. Barton didn't prevent oil skimmers from skimming. Barton didn't promise Brazil two billion taxpayer dollars for risky offshore drilling at more than 14,000 feet. Barton didn't ignore the court ordered release of the Huttare, due to no credible evidence. Barton isn't trying to spend my grandchildren into poverty and slavery. Barton or Alfred E. Newman would be a more honest president.

SQUAWK!

Foreign assistence and skimmers have NOT been prevented from working in the Gulf. Jindal's berms are a huge waste of money and and will divert oil into Teaxs, where Joe Barton lives, and will disappear into the sea with the first tropical storm of the season.. Good plan Bobby!

The Dems tried the same Chewbacca Defense with Palin and the Tea Party and the Gov. run MSM ( Politico, MSNBC, CNN etc.) will be screaming Barton till November as they have with Palin and the Tea Party, but nobody will be listening.

After this, we can only hope that the Democrats retain control this fall because IF Barton becomes the head of this committee and others in a Republican takeover...the environment on Earth and the health and financial well-being of the American working class will continue to be gang-raped by the misguided policies of the last decade!!

Joe Barton apologized to Adolf Hitler because the socialist goverment run U.S. Army and it's socialist allies destroyed Hitler's dream of world domination. "It s shakdown of the highest order, and I don't want to live in a county where the government would destroy a person's dream", said Barton, as he apologized to Hitler.

This is excellent news for Dems. We need to continue to remind people that Barton's words weren't merely a "slip-up"; over 100 other republicans in the House agreed with him. We need to keep all of their names out there to show the public that republicans value big business over small business owners as well the environment. We also need to remind people that President Obama did not "force" BP to pay (extortion as they claim). BP agreed to pay. And the republicans insist that this is a shakedown and that the suffering business owners who have lost their very livelihoods should go through the courts to get their money. Sure, look at the Exxon mess from over 20 years ago. There are STILL people who have not been compensated for that disaster. Do they really expect that these folks, who have lost everything, can afford lawyers and afford to wait for YEARS???? Ridiculous.

Regardless to what happened in the Beltway, John Gotti would call what transpired a shakedown. As time progressed and the definition of shakedown became clearer, I think more and more people saw it as an illegal act that had no basis in law. There is sentiment for embracing the concerns, but as with American slavery, reparation is a hard case to make. Benevolence is not and any payment BP p.l.c shareholders choose to make is perfectly acceptable, but not "I will break your knees unless you do."

This was a shakedown. Republicans should rally round their people who are brave enough to speak the truth to power. The moonbats on the dem side will never vote republican and I don't understand the republican attacks against Barton.